I’m the first one to yell about how much I love dragons and political intrigue but the execution was unfortunately not there for this one. The pacing was uneven, huge action scenes with slower traveling and training between without a real clear sense of why we should care about these characters. This book feels like a long prologue.

I think I would like this more if I were new to fantasy. Sort of in the way I loved Eragon as a younger reader. But now that I have been steeped in the tropes of fantasy for so long this fell flat. We follow our main character Jai through many of the classic dragon fantasy story beats, young protagonist bonds with dragon, has to go on the run, meets old mentor, etc.

What made this less engaging than some of the other books of this persuasion was that the main character was being dragged along by the plot rather than him making actions/taking steps to move the story along. I did not feel like there was any agency for him even when there were decisions to be made.

I didn’t dislike it out right though, I enjoy the subversion of the trope of kind wise mentor character. And per usual the dragon Winter is the best character.

Overall this book tried to do a lot and succeeded in some of it. Long stretches in the middle were repetitive and too expository. The story and themes would benefit from stronger writing, but the story as a whole had enough interesting that I kept reading. Not sure if I am invested enough to check out a sequel though.
2.5

DNF. I really liked the premise but the writing did not work for me at all. It wouldn't be fair to the book if I finished reading and gave it a low rating.

In the last couple of years I've read a few books by YA authors delving into writing adult fantasy. Every one of them flopped in my opinion. Needless to say, I was skeptical about picking this one up. But, it has dragons! So of course I had to give it a go. I was pleasantly surprised.

Jai is the son of Rohan, the leader of one of the Steppefolk tribes. When Rohan lost the war against the Sabines, he was executed and his sons made prisoners of the Sabine Emperor. Jai has been the ward of the aging Emperor for years now. The Sabine empire has since passed to the son of the man that killed his father.

Emperor Constantine has made a match between his son and the Dansk princess. Uniting their people will expand the empire and give the Sabines what they've never had. Dragons.

I had a great time reading this. I love dragon books, political fantasy, and interesting magic. This has all of those things. I also loved Jai, Frida, Winter, and Rufus. There are plenty of characters to loathe as well.

Incredible! Constantly amazing! I felt as if I were traveling with Jai and Frida and learning to soulbond alongside them! Winter stole my heart!

*Full review to be posted closer to publication*

Dragon Rider is everything you might want and expect in a classic dragon fantasy. It doesn't necessarily bring anything overly new or exciting to the fantasy table, but it does do a great job of hitting some very nostalgic fantasy vibes that I'm sure any fantasy fan could enjoy. There was a distinct lack of dragon riding itself in this book despite the title, but I still loved all the dragons and the introduction of a very thoughtful and interesting magic system. I'll definitely be curious to see what's next in this series!

Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu takes readers on an adventurous journey through a world of political intrigue and mythical creatures. Set against a royal court teeming with secrets and betrayal, the story follows Jai, an orphan captive, as he navigates the treacherous landscape of power struggles and alliances.

While the novel's premise is compelling, with its promise of dragons and revenge, the execution falls somewhat short of expectations. The pacing can be uneven sometimes, with intense action interspersed with slower, less engaging sections.

Overall, Dragon Rider is enjoyable for fantasy fiction fans. It offers a blend of magic, adventure, and intrigue.

I wanted to love this. And I loved aspects. Winter. I loved Winter. But for the most part I was quite bored for much of the book.

So this book is full of Adventure it's everything that you want in a dragon rider Epic.Big worlds Great characters and swift action makes this book a gem to read can't wait for the next one,Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC an opportunity to read this book before everyone else

3.5 stars?

This is another book that's hard for me to figure out exactly what I think of it and how to write a review. So we'll try the bullet points again.

What I liked:
*Detailed world building. I definitely had a good understanding of the world, the players, the history, and the magic
*The magic system. No "waves hands and it works" magic system here. We get an incredibly detailed look at how soulbonding works, what one can do with it, the different levels, how mana works, and the limitations.
*Winter. This dragon can't speak, but she's very expressive, and I love her bond with Jai.

What I didn't love:
*The pace. It's slow paced for sure. We get tons of detail, lots of repetition that's not necessary, and the plot moves slowly. I would normally expect the contents of the blurb to happen before the 30% mark, and that in no way happens here.
*Inconsistencies. Hopefully a lot of this will be cleaned up with further edits, but there were an astonishing amount of inconsistencies from one page to the next. One page they're going to go east, next page they say west. This happens a TON.

What I'm still not sure about;
*Jai and Frida. I never felt a real emotional connection to them. I honestly should have been hand to throat worried about them so many times. But emotionally, I wasn't as engaged as I should be. And I think it's because we spend so much time on the world around them and the magic system. And Jai has been so closed away from the world that he is understandably naive, but it is grating at times.

I am curious enough to continue the series I think, but it won't be at the very top of my TBR.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the preview. All opinions are my own.

Dragon Rider follows Jai, an orphaned royal hostage, forced to serve the former emperor that executed his father. His whole world changes though, when Princess Erica engaged to the emperor’s son arrives with soulbound dragons, native to her kingdom, in toe. Only Dansk royalty know the key to soulbounding a dragon, but the marriage alliance will change that. However, it quickly becomes apparent that not everything is as it seems. There are plots being hatched that will leave the kingdom in chaos leaving Jai the perfect opportunity to escape. Along the way, he finds a hatchling dragon and must work together with Princess Erica’s escaped handmaiden to learn his newfound magic because without it, there’s no hope for revenge.

Dragon Rider is Matharu’s debut adult fantasy, and if you’ve read his YA Summoner series, you’ll pick up on similar themes at a much higher intensity. It’s especially apparent in the accidental bonding by the MMC with a magical creature. Given this is an adult fantasy, it’s worht noting that the pacing will be much slower at times than Matharu’s fast paced YA series. This is to be expected, though, with all of the necessary world building and political set up required from the first in series book which Matharu expertly handled. There is so much we as readers must learn in a relatively short span to understand the political machinations at play with the warring Kingdoms and what an alliance with Dansk would truly mean. In terms of the magic system, Matharu did such a great job with the level of detail he provided from the magic created by the soulbound to the process of generating mana for the magic. I particularly loved getting to learn more about the different levels and types of magical creatures one can become soulbound to, but given I’m in my dragon era, I was most excited by the dragons. Speaking of dragons, I can’t wait to experience more with Winter, Jai’s accidental soulbound dragon. I must say, based on the description, all I kept picturing was the Light Fury from How to Train Your Dragon, but I’m not mad about that. The plot itself is full of gruesome death and battle, betrayal, political scheming, and twists that have the potential to change the course of these characters forever. I highly recommend sticking through the slow start because the payoff will be worth it.

Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu is a fun fantasy series starter. It's told in 3rd person POV by our main character Jai. The book is well written, the story flows easily, and the chapters are short.

I enjoy the magic system - the idea of bonding with creatures is not new, but this was fun take with soulbinding, the use of mana, and resulting magic. Jai is an compelling character with an interesting history, but his progression is a bit unbelievable. He does have to learn to use his new abilities, but he is far too competent, too quickly. I did really enjoy a character introduced in act 2 and hope he makes another appearance in the next book.

I liked the 1st act setting the stage, but like others was a bit thrown off by the shift in act 2. I don't think there were any unnecessary moments, but there was too much time dedicated to it compared to the climatic act 3. I feel like we were too rushed at the end where we could have had more descriptions of the action taking place.

I am very excited to continue this series and see where all the story threads started here take us.

Rated 4 stars. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley or the ARC ebook.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars.

Liked:
Good world-building and character development
Interesting plot
Epic journey

Disliked:
Can sometimes drag a bit
While it was an enjoyable read, it felt as though not much happened

A straightforward dragon fantasy book, with a bit more depth and nuance than at first glance. The character building seems to be the main focus, so perhaps additional books will shift to cover more of the story development. It's a bit slow at times, but well worth reading if you like a classic dragon fantasy,

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for this ARC**

This book is written from a make perspective which I usually don’t gravitate towards, but after reading Iron Flame I was on a dragon rider binge. This book has good character development and world building. I love the dragons.

There’s something great about this title. No dissembling, no “A something of something and something” styling. Just “Dragon Rider.” You know pretty much everything you need to know right from the start: there will be dragons, and there will be people riding them! I think this will be good enough for many fantasy fans, and it certainly was for me!

There was a lot to like about this book, right from the start. It’s the kind of story that plops you down right in the middle of things and leaves it to the reader to wade through the various peoples and places that are presented on the page. Also, right from the get go, it was clear that this was going to be one of those political maneuvering stories where everyone has their own agenda and the intrepid heroes fall into the dangerous plans of others. So it is with our main character who quickly finds himself jumping out of the frying pan and straight into the fire. Of course, a lucky run in with a dragon egg changes his fate and leads to the titular concept of this book.

For all of the fact that some of the book’s core concepts were expected, I was also surprised by a large chunk of the middle of the story. There, the book suddenly turns into a survival story, with Jai and Frida (a young woman he teams up with) having to persist in the face of the elements, starvation, and danger, all while caring for a baby dragon. I really loved this aspect of the story, but I will say that it’s the kind of thing that does impact the overall pacing of the story. If readers are buckled in for a slower ride, one in which you’re immersed in the day-to-day struggles and experiences of these characters, than I think the book delivers! But it is a shift from the expectation that is presented at the start, where the focus is more on court politics.

The story also takes its time really diving into Jai’s experiences learning to manage his magic and to bond with the baby dragon. Again, much of this leads to a major slow down in the story, so it will depend on readers’ interests levels how well this part of the story succeeds. I was also surprised by just how violent this book was at times. It’s definitely not for the weak of heart with some fairly graphic scenes of violence, much of which is committed against Jai himself.

Overall, I thought this was a successful fantasy story. It’s the kind of high fantasy story that will likely appeal to readers looking for a more “classic” dragon rider story than “Fourth Wing.” It is dense and can be slow at times, so readers should keep that in mind when picking it up.

Rating 8: A well-rounded fantasy stories that highlights yet again why dragons are such beloved magical creatures!

(Link will go live on The Library Ladies on April 27)

Loved this book and can't wait for the next one!! The characters and magic were fabulous, the world building easy to follow. I love that it's not an easy journey and not everything turns out perfect.

I can’t really give this a fair review, as I didn’t finish or get very far.

I admit I do not do well with books written from a male perspective. I’d like to try and pick this back up and try again, thankfully I also have a physical ARC, but right now there are just too many other books to read!

The main character, Jai, intrigues me and I like his voice and the authors writing style. I would have liked to jump right into action/something more exciting, but I also appreciate the author’s world building.

I've been looking for books with Dragons ever since Fourth Wing and I was so glad I found this book!! It had everything that a love in a fantasy, strong world building, slow burn, betrayal and magic!!

I loved seeing the relationship between Jai and Winter. The whole magic system is a lot, but I found myself enjoying digging in.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. This book is an epic fantasy with political intrigue, and of course dragons. This book was such a fun read. If you enjoy riveting fantasy novels that draw you in, then you will enjoy this book.

**I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley and publisher Avon and Harper Voyager in exchange for an honest review**

**NO SPOILERS** Dragon Rider is an epic fantasy novel that follows our main character, Jai. Jai became a prisoner of war at a young age, along with his brothers, and was but in service to the king who defeated his father and tribe. A series of events allows Jai to escape his service to the Sabines and begin a harrowing journey to his homeland. This is the first book in what is sure to be an amazing series.

This book is written in the third person and follows main character Jai on his quest. Dragon Rider is a relatively fast paced book, especially at the beginning and towards the end with somewhat of a lull in the middle. The writing is straight forward and easy to follow making this a decently fast read.

Dragon Rider has gruesome moments and has some dark writing and concepts in it. I really enjoyed this book even though there were moments I wanted to grab Jai by the shoulders and shake him due to his questionable decision making. He is required to grow as a character from the beginning to the ending but there are still moments when he makes childish choices. There is a time in the middle of the book that significant time is spent discussing soulbreathing and the core that became a bit tedious but still worth the read. Our female main character, Frida is also an absolute badass, which is a good thing because I don’t think Jai would survive without her. I also love the creatures and the connections they share with their people, however there are less dragons than the title might lead you to believe.

Overall, excellent start to a new fantasy series. The likeable characters are easy to love, and the rest are easy to hate. For this reason, I can’t wait for the next book. I must know if Jai and his crew conquer the raging lunatics…because it will be a sad day if they do not. I would highly recommend it to anyone that likes epic fantasy books with coming of age, traveling quests, and nations at war themes. If you are here only for the dragons you might be a little disappointed as there are only a handful, but don’t let that deter you, this is worth the read!